Bulletin - United States National Museum - si-pddr - Smithsonian ...

BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 365
lunch, at the same time keeping a sharp eye on the dog who accompanied
me. The cooked flesh of the muscovy duck that I threw to
it must have been strange fare, yet the bird held the fragments be-
tween its toes and ate with relish. Once or twice jays of this species
stole skeletons of small birds hung out to dry near camp,
CYANOCORAX CHRYSOPS CHRYSOPS (Vieillot)
Pica chrysops Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., vol. 26, 1S19, p. 124. (Par-
aguay. )
In the wooded area of the southern section of the Chaco this
strikingly marked jay was locally common where extensive tracts of
forest still existed. It was recorded at the following points: Las
Palmas, Chaco, July 14 to 27, 1920 (adult male July 14) ; Riaclio
Pilaga, Formosa, August 8 to 18; Kilometer 80, west of Puerto
Pinasco, Paraguay, September 8 (two seen). A skeleton and a
specimen in alcohol were preserved at Las Palmas in addition to the
skin already mentioned.
The present species, during winter and early spring, was en-
countered in little bands of five or six (probably families of the
previous season) that ranged in the heaviest monte, or occasionally
in groves scattered over open prairies, usually in company with the
larger Cyanocorax cyanomelas. Both species exhibited great cur-
iosity and were easily decoyed up within a distance of 5 or 10 meters.
When they were within hearing, at any squeaking note they came
sailing in with spread wings and crest fully erect to perch on some
open limb and eye me with no semblance of fear. They uttered a
number of jaylike calls, and on one occasion one suddenly jerked
up and down on its perch, rising to the full length of its legs and
then dropping back, while it called kuk kuk kuk kuk loudly. On
the whole, chrysops was more noisy than cyanomelas.
CYANOCORAX CHRYSOPS TUCUMANUS Cabanis
Cyanocorax tucumanus C.vranis, Journ. fiir Oruitli., 1883, p. 216. (Tucuman.)
Three specimens of the present form, a male, a female, and one
with sex not determined, were secured near Tapia, Tucuman, on
April 12, 1921. These, compared with typical skins, exhibit the
characters of heavier bill, more strongly arched culmen, and darker,
blacker dorsum that characterize this subspecies. The differences
in crest and color of abdomen that have been alleged are not ap-
parent. On the date in question two flocks, each numbering five or
six individuals, were encountered in rather heavy forest near the
Rio Tapia. They came hopping out rather curiously when they first
saw me, but retreated at once to heavy cover, and worked away,